Tar extractor and scrubber



April 29 1924.

A. L. GALUSHA TAR EXTRACTOR AND SCRUBBER' Filed May 3 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet l IFIER was PRODUCER April 29 1924.

A. L. GALUSHA TAR EXTRACTOR AND SCRUBBER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 5. 1920 illuminating, industrial, or power-purposes,

-Patented Apr. 29$ 1924.

uireo s'mres PATENT. rice.

I ALBERT 1.. ennusna, or snanon, mnssacnnsn'rrs.

TAR nx'rmc'ron AND soR BBER;

Application filed May 3, 1920. Serial ZlTo..8't'8,39'.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT LGALUSHA, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Sharon, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tar Extractors and. Scrubbers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,

In the manufacture and use ofgas for and particularly in the-production of produce-r gas, it is" desirable, if not essential,

that the solid, liquid and gaseous impurities which come over with the gas from the generator, such as tar, be entirely removed,

and the gas cleansed and purified before use. Many forms'of tar extractors and gascleaners have been devised and used for this purpose, but no .apparatushas been heretofore produced. of this character that fully meets the practical requirements of efficiency, reliability and economy of operation. v The primary object of my present invention has been to produce such an apparatus tions.

which will more nearly meet these require- 'ments,'and this I have accomplished by the apparatus which I shall hereinafter set forth and describe and which, in'general terms,

" comprises means for removing, the tar and otherim unties from the gas characterized I by the ollowing improvements and func- The tar and impurities are removed more 1 perfectly and completely than heretofore by other devices, and this action is assured at all times without the necessity of constant care and attention being bestowed by the.

user of the device. The power re uired to drive the apparatus is very materially re-' duced, the resultv largely of means which.

involve a greatly improved"metl1od of applying the water, the. consumption of which is greatly reduced. The'gas'leaves the apparatus at a constantpressure, the amount of whichjis' readily and easily fixed by the operator. The apparatus as a whole :.is materially reduced in size, as well as cost of construction 'and'so designed that it may be readily inserted into any gas line and .operated with ease and. economy andwithout the necessity of putting the gas under pres:

This-latter advantage follows largely from the fact that the device comprises,

sure.

among-other improvements, a single rotating part which acts both as-'a purifier and as a blower.

The construction and operation of the apparatus by Which the above new results are secured will be described in detailb'y regeifince to the accompanying drawings, in w 10 Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the complete purifier attached to a gas producer. 1

Fig. 2 is. an enlarged view in elevation and part section of the purifier proper.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional viewson planes at right angles designed to lllus' trate details of the apparatus as well as the theory of'its operation.

Fig. 5 is-a sectional detail on the line 5--5 of Fig. 2.

- The gas producer, familiarity with which is assumed, is designated in Fig. 1 by nu- 4 meral 1. From this device a vertical pipe- 2 leads and is connected with a parallel pipe 3 and a horizontal. pipe 4, connected with the purifier; These pipes are provided with the usual and necessary valves,

connections and other appurtenances common in this art, and are-of such length that the tar and similar impurities contained in the hot as are cooled sufliciently, by radiation 1n the vertical portions, to con-' rapid rotation may be and is imparted to it.

' The interior of the casing 7, free from all projections and protuberanoes, is di- 'vided into a'plurality of chambers 6 and 10 by diaphragms 1.1 with central openings therein through which passes the shaft-8. In each chamber 10 there is mounted on the shaft 8 a fan or rotor 12, Figs. 2, 3 and4,

open on the side of the opening at the left in the partitioning diaphragm and closed,

on the other side by'a disk.13 of a diameter closely approximating that of the interior of the casing 7.

The gas entering the chamber 6 passes: through the central opening in the dia- 11 into the central part of therotat- Above the casing] ing fan. By this it is set in rapid rotation, and as a result of centrifugal force all the particles therein which are of greater specific gravity than the gas proper are thrown radially outward toward the walls of the casing in which the fan revolves.

7 .is -a pipe 14 from which extend branc pipes 15 opening into the casing and adapte to deliver a relatively limited flow of water upon-the wall of said casing, but not into the rotors. The whirling body ofair or gas within the casing causes'this water to adhere to and fiow over the interior walls of the casing, as indicated in Fig. 4, where 17 designates the sheet or film of water overthe lower portion of the casing walls.

. up by the filming water.

From each chamber 10 leads a drain pipe 16 which extends down below the surface of a body of water in ,atank 18, Fig. 2 forming a water seal. The water introducedinto the casing 7 by the jets 1 5 flows out of the same by way of the drain pipes '16 and all solid or liquid particles, thrown by centrifugal force onto and into this film or sheet of water are entrained thereby and carried ofi by such flow into the tank 18: Such particles are largely the drops more or less minute of tar, and may be periodi-' cally or constantly drawn off from'the tank, the lighter floating parts by an upper overflow pipe 19, the heavier by a discharge pipe 20 at the bottom of the tank.

Considering for a moment the operation of the first fan 12, which is the same as'all the others, the gas entering this fan contains more or less solid impurities-including globules of tar. The larger of these globules are immediately thrown outward into the film of water, but some of the globules are so minute that they are not so readily thrown by centrifugal action and not taken upby the flowing water film. To bring about a coalescence of these more minute particles the clearance between the fan and the inner wall of the casing is made quite small, and when the particles, following the flow of the gas, are brought into this narrow clearance space, the movin particles are brought into collision, or ru bing, contact withthe relatively stationary particles,

and by this action and perhaps by their electrification they are caused to coalesce and form larger droplets or globules which are more readily projected into and taken This theoretical action is illustrated in Figs.- 3 and 4.

v The correctness of this assumption seems to be borne out by the unquestionable fact,

that the reduction of the clearance space results in a much more perfect elimination of the tar. It is true that one operation may not result in the complete removal of; the tar,

: the s around the outer e go of the it and that' some particles ma, pass on with.

disk 13 into the second chamber 10.. For this reason I use a plurality of fans and diaphragms, so that the slightlyimpure gas after the first or second cleansing may pass to a second or third or more fans and there undergo a series of similar cleansings. The power to drivetwo or more fans in a single apparatus of this nature is but slightly greater than that required for one, and I therefore use two or more fans in order to more perfectly cleanse 'and purify the gas.

The last fan of the series is, in practice, not

used to throw the solid particles into a waterfilm, the water jet 15 of this chamber not b'ing usually open, but this fan operates chiefly to dry the gas before it leaves the purifier.

The above description of construction and operation covers the more prominent water required, but the power necessary to.

drive the fans is enormously increased.

'Moreover, by passing the, gas over the, surface of the'water as I do, the impurltles are-extracted as completely and efi'ectively as by spraying the water into the gas. By

my plan the expense'of operation is very greatly reduced. and a more perfect action secured. Moreover, it is extremely-diflicult, if not impossible, to remove all of the fine particles of tar solely by centrifugalforce, but by applying this force in a machine in which those. particles of tar are brought into collision and caused to coalesce into larger particles which are subject to centrifugal action, as I'have' above set forth, very perfect purification of the gas may be effectd. The apparatusfurthermore permits the soluble impurities in the gas to dissolve in the water and be thus eliminated, without the necessity ofspraying the water into the body of gas.

The apparatus as constructed also permits of a much more perfect cooling and cleaning of'the gas. By the elongated passage into the purifier the gas is cooled to the desired extent. The gas is cooled by radiation without the user 5 having to buy water water as. waste water from a gas en inc jacket can be run into the tank and t ere mixed with waste gas wash water, eta

It will be noted that each fan in addition to cleansing the gas, produces a negative atmoslpheric pressureat the central opening of t e dia hragm and a positive pressure at the perip cry of. the disks 13, so that each rotating part serves not only as a scrubber and tar extractor, 'but also as a means for putting the as under pressure.-

The puri ed gas issues from the apparatus through the pipe 21. At this outlet the pressure is regulated at the will of the operator by varying such pressure by means of a by-pass 22 containing a valve 23. This valve closes an orifice having a bevelled'edge so that when the valve is fully closed the contacting surfaces are of extremely small dimensions, a mere line, infact, so that there is no tendency of the valve to stick. The pressure of the valve may be adjusted in any known manner, as .by weights or springs .for example. The valve is shown as carried by a pivoted arm 24, secured to a bar 25,- carrying adjustable weights 26 which may be set to secure any constant pressure.

A very slight increase in gaspressurein 22 a will cause the valve to open a triflev and the flowof gas to the suction side of the apparatus will cause the pressure to drop to the correct amount, with the result that the opening'of the valve .is reduced and the correct pressure maintained. In practice, the valve is open to a slight degree at all times so that there is no contact between it and its seat to cause sticking It will be observe that there is more pressure at the right of the disks 13 than on the other side thereof, which will, result in some end thrust on the shaft. This should be provided for by the use of a thrust bearing 31 for the shaft. The-other bearin s that carry the entire rotating parts may ordinar floating bearings, and the end of .the she. t

their hubs .or by is covered by an air tight cap 27, .which I avoids the use of a stufiing box and prevents the escape of gas' at the pressure end of the device. At the other or suction and there is no tendenc to leak outward and no stufling boxisn ed. r

If extraction of tar andimpurities is desired but less inoreasein pressure, the rotors by any suitable means maybe ad usted with reference to the diaphragms at their left.

'For example the rotors maybe secured to the shaft 8 by screw bolts 30-passing through inserting or Withdrawing washers 32 between the thrust'bearing 31 and the journal bom 33,'th e shaftat the right hand end having acertain amount of play or lost motion, as shown. This increases the clearance between the fans and the .diaphragms to their left and decreases gas output of the fan and the outlet pressu'r v The intake 4 and the-putlet 21, it will be q er e are in line, whwh readers It a s m ple and easy matter to insert the apparatus into any existing gas line. These parts are further provided with connections 28 for attachment to vertical pipes in case it'be required to join up the device to such pipes.

This apparatuspossesses to a very marked degree all of theadvantages above set forth. It has few and simple parts. All internal parts are not in contact, but separated by large clearances, so that the apparatus is little liable to sticking, clogging or other derangement and'in its operatlon it has been found most economical and eflicient.

\Vhat I claim is 1. In a gas purifier, the combination with the chambers of a cylindrical casing having smooth interior wall surfaces, of centrifugal fans or rotors within the chambers adapted to receive the'gas at the center and force .it around and radially onto the peripheral adapted'to deliver and direct water onto the walls of the casing chambers only. where it is retained by the centrifugally driven gas out of contactwith the rotors, and outlets ordrain pipes from the bottomof the easing chambers to-carry oif the water and its entrained impurities.

2. In a gas purifier, the combination with the chambers of a cylindrical casing having a smooth interior wall surface, of water pipes passin through the peripheral walls of said cham bers and constituting the only projections on or in contact with said walls, centrifugal fans or rotors within the casing chambers adapted toreceive gas at the center and throw the same around and radially toward the said peripheral wall surfaces with a force which is' suflicient to maintain the water delivered from the and out of contact with. sai rotors and drain pipes for carrying off the water with its entrained impurities.

3. In a gas'purifier, the combination with a cylindrical]; casing and diaphra s having central openings dividing said casing into a plurality .of chambers with smooth interior walls, water pipes passing through said walls and constituting, the only 'projections on or in-contact therewith and ada ted to deliver-water onto the said walls on y, a centrifugal fan in each chamber closed. on one side and. adapted to throw gas' u"pon said walls with sufficient force to mamtain central openings dividing said easing into a plurality of chambers with smooth interior peripheralwalls, of a rotary' fan in each chamber, the spaces between the blades of each fan being closed by'a disk or plate, water pipes passing through the peripheral walls of the chambers and constituting the 'onlyprojections on or in contact with said walls and "which deliver water upon said walls only, drain pipes from the bottom of each chamber immediately under the fans and in the direct line of the projected particles of tar, means for rotating the fans and means for introducing gas into the central part of the first fan of the series, said fans being all of the same construction and serving to purify the gas and force it.

- through the casing from the center of one fan to the peripheral wall of the casing and back to the center of the next fan in the series.

5. In a gas purifier, the combination with. a casing divided into communicating chambers, a rotary fan in each chamber, means for delivering water directly and only upon the wall of said chambers where. it is retained by the gas thrown by the fans and out of contact with said fans. a drain pipe ,from the bottom of each chamber, and a tank emoe adapted to be heated for maintaining thetar therein in liquid form.

6, In a gas purifier, the combination with a casing of a series of rotary fans mounted on a horizontal axis and by means of'which,

a gas with its impurities subjected to centrifugal action is thrown against the'walls of the casing, of means fordelivering directly onto the interior walls of the easing films of water which are retained on said walls and out of contact with the fans by the action thereon of the gas in its travel over the same, and which films take up and remove the impurities from the gas.

7. In a, gas purifier, the combination with a casing divided into chambers communicating at their centers, of rotary fans in said chambers adapted to throw the particles of tar in a gas outwardly by centrifugal force towards the casing Wall, and to serve as blowers for forcin the gas through said series of fans, 0? a regulable by-pass through which a determined part of the gas may be carried repeatedly through the; series of fans.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature.

ALBERT L. GALUSHA. 

